Determination of some soil physico-chemical characteristics using factor analysis for soil tillage in Vertisol and Entisol

Abstract

Soil management is a subject that is receiving increasing attention. It is considered to be important for the assessment of the extent of land degradation or amelioration, and for identifying management practices for sustainable land use. This research was carried out in Çetinkaya district of Bafra-Samsun province located on alluvial land formed by Kizilirmak River as accumulated sediment deposited at different times, show large variations in their physical properties over short distances. The main objective of this research is to identify the most sensitive indicators of some soil characteristics using factor analysis for evaluating soil tillage in Vertisol and Entisol orders. For this aim, C, Si, S, SOM, CaCO3, BD, PR, FC, PWP and AWC were analyzed using factor analysis for both soil orders. According to factor analysis results, investigated physicochemical soil properties in Vertisol were detected as three groups. AWC (0.992), FC (0.986), SOM (0.978), PWP (0.971) and CaCO3 (-0.988) have the highest weight values in first group while, BD (0.815), S (0.801) and C (-0.850) were determined as having the highest weight values in second group. As for in last group, PR (- 0.920) was found. Moreover, investigated physicochemical soil properties in Entisol were detected as two groups. C (0.992), AWC (0.979), PWP (0.976), FC (0.952), SOM (0.908), S (-0.994) and BD (-0.989) have the highest weight values in first group while, CaCO3 (0.840), Si (0.797) and PR(0.728) were determined as having the highest weight values in another group.